Influence of Micro Finance and Small Loan Centre (MASLOC) on the Development of Small Scale Enterprises in the Wa Municipality

This research was to find out the influence of Micro finance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) on small and medium scale enterprise in the Wa Municipality. It involved the identification of ten different enterprises with 50 individual business owners. Questionnaires were also designed for MASLOC officials and the 50 business owners identified. The responses from both officials and the business owners were analysed using SPSS and basic excel tools. It was observed during the research that loans given out by MASLOC have indeed improved the lives of the beneficiaries. Closed to 80% of the beneficiaries have been able to expand their businesses, increased their profit margin and have seen tremendous improvement in their business activities. Most of them can now take care of their families and children's education; their livelihood and social lives have also been enhanced. The average performance rating of all the businesses visited is between 60-75% which is very good. It was, however, observed that about 60% of the beneficiaries are refusing to redeem their loans despites the progress of their businesses making it difficult for others to also benefit. It was also observed that MASLOC lack the resources both human and material to operate effectively. Information and data on some of the beneficiaries were non-existence thus making it difficult to retrieve the loans given out.  The research was concluded with some recommendations to help improve the activities of MASLOC. Keywords: MASLOC, small and medium scale enterprises, microfinance, microcredit, loan

Biological control via "ecological" damping: An approach that attenuates non-target effects

In this work we develop and analyze a mathematical model of biological control to prevent or attenuate the explosive increase of an invasive species population in a three-species food chain. We allow for finite time blow-up in the model as a mathematical construct to mimic the explosive increase in population, enabling the species to reach "disastrous" levels, in a finite time. We next propose various controls to drive down the invasive population growth and, in certain cases, eliminate blow-up. The controls avoid chemical treatments and/or natural enemy introduction, thus eliminating various non-target effects associated with such classical methods. We refer to these new controls as "ecological damping", as their inclusion dampens the invasive species population growth. Further, we improve prior results on the regularity and Turing instability of the three-species model that were derived in earlier work. Lastly, we confirm the existence of spatio-temporal chaos

Potential role of metabolomics in the improvement of research on traditional African medicine

The global market for herbal medicine is growing steadily. The usage of herbal medicine is particularly common in many parts of Africa; the World Health Organization estimates that approximately 80% of Africans rely on traditional African medicines (TAMs) for treating various diseases. TAMs hold promise in preventive treatment, early disease intervention and personalized medicine. However, clinical integration of TAMs is restricted due to limited information concerning their characterization. Presently, many studies on TAMs utilize a reductionist approach, making it extremely difficult to understand the holistic modifying effects that these therapeutic agents may have on biological systems. Fortunately, emerging technologies such as metabolomics platforms adopt a ‘top-down’ strategy that permits a holistic evaluation of the components, metabolic pathways and biomarkers modified by TAMs, which can aid in addressing common concerns over safety and toxicity, while also ensuring that quality control standards are met. Metabolomics approaches may also be beneficial for advancing our understanding of the efficacy and mechanism of action of TAMs, and may contribute to the advancement of research and drug discovery, early diagnosis, preventive treatment and TAMs-driven personalized medicine in Africa. This review also considers the main challenges that may hinder the adoption and integration of metabolomics approaches in research on TAMs in Africa and suggests possible solutions

Neurogenomics : challenges and opportunities for Ghana

The application of genomic tools and technologies has shown the potential to help improve healthcare and our understanding of disease mechanisms. While genomic tools are increasingly being applied to research on infectious diseases, malaria and neglected tropical diseases in Africa, an area that has seen little application of genomic approaches on this continent is neuroscience. In this article, we examined the prospects of developing neurogenomics research and its clinical use in Ghana, one of the African countries actively involved in genomics research. We noted that established international research funding sources and foundations in genomic research such as H3ABioNet nodes established at a couple of research centres in Ghana provide excellent platforms for extending the usage of genomic tools and techniques to neuroscience-related research areas. However, existing challenges such as the (i) lack of degree programmes in neuroscience, genomics and bioinformatics; (ii) low availability of infrastructure and appropriately-trained scientists; and (iii) lack of local research funding opportunities, need to be addressed. To promote and safeguard the long-term sustainability of neurogenomics research in the country, the impact of the existing challenges and possible ways of addressing them have been discussed

Neuroscience-related research in Ghana : a systematic evaluation of direction and capacity

Neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases account for considerable healthcare, economic and social burdens in Ghana. In order to effectively address these burdens, appropriately-trained scientists who conduct high-impact neuroscience research will be needed. Additionally, research directions should be aligned with national research priorities. However, to provide information about current neuroscience research productivity and direction, the existing capacity and focus need to be identified. This would allow opportunities for collaborative research and training to be properly explored and developmental interventions to be better targeted. In this study, we sought to evaluate the existing capacity and direction of neuroscience-related research in Ghana. To do this, we examined publications reporting research investigations authored by scientists affiliated with Ghanaian institutions in specific areas of neuroscience over the last two decades (1995–2015). 127 articles that met our inclusion criteria were systematically evaluated in terms of research foci, annual publication trends and author affiliations. The most activelyresearched areas identified include neurocognitive impairments in non-nervous system disorders, depression and suicide, epilepsy and seizures, neurological impact of substance misuse, and neurological disorders. These studies were mostly hospital and community-based surveys. About 60 % of these articles were published in the last seven years, suggesting a recent increase in research productivity. However, data on experimental and clinical research outcomes were particularly lacking. We suggest that future investigations should focus on the following specific areas where information was lacking: large-scale disease epidemiology, effectiveness of diagnostic platforms and therapeutic treatments, and the genetic, genomic and molecular bases of diseases

Molecular and Neurochemical Effects of Methylphenidate on the Developing Brain

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects 2.6-4.5% of the worlds population, with affected children often performing poorly at school. The catecholamine hypothesis of ADHD proposes that the disorder results from a hypofunction of the fronto-striato-cerebellar catecholaminergic (i.e. dopaminergic and noradrenergic) system. However, abnormalities in the glutamatergic and GABAergic systems have also been implicated in the symptoms of ADHD. In addition, previous reports indicate that a deviation from the common pattern of cerebral lateralisation also contribute to some of the symptoms of ADHD, with under-activation of the right prefrontal and right parietal cortices observed in ADHD patients. The psychostimulant, methylphenidate (MPH) is the preferred drug for the treatment of the disorder, however the long-term consequences of the drug are not yet established. Here, we have investigated the effects of acute and chronic MPH treatment on monoaminergic protein markers, genes and their corresponding proteins involved in synaptic plasticity, as well as the drug’s effect on metabolic pathways. The investigations were conducted on brain regions implicated in the symptoms of ADHD in adolescent rats. Our data shows in Chapter 3 that MPH increases whole tissue and extracellular dopamine levels in the frontal cortex and striatum. Interestingly, this effect was more prominent in the left sides of these brain areas. Chronic MPH treatment also upregulated dopamine (DAT) and noradrenaline (NET) transporters in the striatum and the nucleus accumbens, an effect that could limit the long-term effectiveness of the drug, as larger doses may be required to reach a functional blockade of the upregulated transporters and achieve clinical efficacy. In addition, chronic MPH but not acute treatment increased protein expression of the: vesicular monoamine transporter (VMAT2), dopamine D1 receptor, and the catecholamine rate-limiting enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), in most of the examined brain areas. By using proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) spectroscopy, this thesis also shows that acute MPH enhances the levels of the large neutral amino acids (LNAAs), tyrosine and phenylalanine in the cerebrum (Chapter 4). In Chapter 5 the thesis further demonstrates that chronic but not acute MPH treatment increases the levels of tyrosine and phenylalanine in the frontal cortex, while also decreasing the levels of these LNAAs in the plasma, suggesting that the drug increases the transport of the these two LNAAs from the plasma into parts of the brain. Given that these two LNAAs are precursors of dopamine synthesis, their enhanced levels following MPH treatment in the frontal cortex but not the striatum (no significant increase of tyrosine or phenylalanine in striatum) this finding might contribute to the elevated cortical levels of dopamine as shown in Chapter 3. This novel finding has resulted in our hypothesis that MPH may alleviate ADHD symptoms in two ways: (1) by a blockade of DAT and NET, and (2) by enhancing the brain pool of tyrosine and phenylalanine. Interestingly, MPH had a similar effect on the energy-related metabolites, lactate and acetate, favouring their transport from the plasma into the frontal cortex and hippocampal areas. In addition, glutamate and GABA levels were also increased by MPH in the frontal cortex and hippocampus. Together, these findings provide support for the contribution of dopaminergic, glutamatergic and energy-related metabolites in the mechanism of action of the anti-ADHD drug, MPH. Contrasting findings were observed following acute and chronic MPH treatment in the cerebellum (Chapter 6), which were both dose and treatment duration-dependent. Acute treatment decreased cerebellar glutamate, N-acetylaspartate and VMAT2, while chronic treatment increased glutamate, tyrosine and VMAT2. However, the chronic MPH-induced increase of tyrosine and VMAT2 did not correlate with increased cerebellar dopamine, which would suggest that in the cerebellum, the increased tyrosine may elevate the synthesis of noradrenaline rather than dopamine. In chapter 7, the thesis shows that chronic MPH treatment increases mRNA and protein expression of markers mediating neuroplasticity. Here, chronic MPH increased Arc, IRSp53/58, Cdc42, and Arp2 levels in the: striatum, nucleus accumbens and hippocampus. The MPH-induced increase of these synaptic plasticity-associated markers in these brain regions may induce changes in dendritic spine morphology, as well as in the consolidation of memory strength and drug-seeking behaviour. In conclusion, the present thesis demonstrates, by applying a wide range of bioanalytical techniques, that the anti-ADHD drug, MPH, has major effects on: catecholaminergic protein markers, metabolic markers, and proteins mediating neuronal plasticity in the adolescent brain. The factors influencing some of these effects were dependent on regional differences, cerebral lateralisation, drug dosage and treatment duration

Disregard of neurological impairments associated with neglected tropical diseases in Africa

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) affect people in the bottom billion poorest in the world. These diseases are concentrated in rural areas, conflict zones and urban slums in Africa and other tropical areas. While the World Health Organization recognizes seventeen priority NTDs, the list of conditions present in Africa and elsewhere that are eligible to be classified as NTDs is much longer. Although NTDs are generally marginalized, their associated neurological burden has been almost completely disregarded. However, reports indicate that trichuriasis, schistosomiasis and hookworm infection, among others, cause impairments in memory and cognition, negatively affecting school attendance rates and educational performance particularly among children, as well as agricultural productivity among adults. Consequently, the neurological impairments have substantial influence on education and economic productivity, thus aggravating and perpetuating poverty in affected societies. However, inadequate research, policy and public health attention has been paid to the neurological burdens associated with NTDs. In order to appropriately address these burdens, we recommend the development of policy interventions that focus on the following areas: (i) the introduction of training programs to develop the capacity of scientists and clinicians in research, diagnostic and treatment approaches (ii) the establishment of competitive research grant schemes to fund cutting-edge research into these neurological impairments, and (iii) the development of public health interventions to improve community awareness of the NTD-associated neurological problems, possibly enhancing disease prevention and expediting treatment